12 OYSTER BOTTOMS OF MISSISSIPPI EAST OF BILOXI. 



probable that included in this area may be some natural oyster beds 

 or patches, although they may have been reduced to mere areas of 

 hard bottom prior to the time at which they are alleged to have been 

 planted by the State. The shoaling of the water over the strip 

 indicates either this or an extraordinary production after planting. 

 There are very few oysters over 4 inches long on this area and for 

 every oyster 3 inches long or more there are 6 or more under that 

 length, and all are poor in every respect. 



South of this strip and continuous with it in a depth of 4 to 5 feet 

 is an area of scattering oysters, but the principal growth of that 

 character lies on the old ridge previously described. On the crest of 

 the ridge the depth is generally 1 foot or less, but the scattering 

 growth passes to a depth of about 2^ feet at the western end in a 

 channel running to one of the bayous. In this area there is hardly 

 an oyster reaching a length of 4 inches and there are nearly nine 

 times as many under 3 inches as over that. This does not mean that 

 there is an enormous production of young, though that is also true, 

 but that the conditions are such as to prevent oysters growing to a 

 large size even though they may attain a considerable age. In most 

 places examined they were densely clustered, though in one or two 

 spots small single oysters are found in considerable numbers. There 

 were some drills and in one or two places considerable algaj or "moss." 

 The very scattering growth which constitutes about one-half of the 

 entire bed lies in the two areas practically surrounding the denser 

 growth. The smaller of the two is inside of the ridge hi water not 

 exceeding 2 feet deep. The larger lies outside of the ridge and on all 

 sides of the area of dense growth previously described. In oysters 

 of marketable size, that is those measuring 3 inches or more in length, 

 the productiveness of the two is about equal, but small oysters are 

 in greater abundance in the outer or planted area, especially in that 

 part of it lying west of the dense growth. 



The depleted bottom is confined to the northern and eastern 

 borders of the bed. Over the former it is characterized by the 

 clusters of small oysters sparsely scattered, and apparently owes its 

 existence to a set on shells carried from the more productive bottoms 

 by storms. 



